Grappers suffer body blow in relegation battle

GRAPPENHALL suffered a body blow in the Vivio Cheshire County League premier division relegation battle – despite posting an impressive 254-6.
Batting first against fellow strugglers Bramhall at Broad Lane they must surely thought they had done enough, with Peter Barnes batting superbly to hit 102 – his first century for the club – and Albert Pennington hitting 54 and Ben Bodha 55.
But Bramhall had a strong start and the Grappers bowlers struggled to ever really exert any kind of pressure. The visitors coasted home for the loss of five wickets with three overs to spare.
Raki Rao was the pick of the bowlers with 2-74.
The result did not put Grappers back to bottom place but it opened up a worrying gap between them and Bramhall.
Grappenhall 2nd travelled to Hyde with a much depleted side and were rolled over for only 105.
Hyde chased down the runs for the loss of only one wicket with plenty of time to spare.
But Grappers 3rd were convincing winners the following day as they cruised home against Hyde in a high scoring affair.
Hyde posted a decent 219-8 with Tom  Bravington the pick of the bowling with 3-30 on a good batting pitch.
Grappers lost a couple of early wickets before Richard Holden and Iain Wright came to the crease and scored freely. Holden was dismissed for an excellent 42 and Paul Tyerman picked up where he left off scoring 34. All the while veteran Iain Wright took on everything the Hyde bowlers threw at him as he steered the side home with eight overs to spare for the loss of seven wickets. He finished with an excellent 87 not out.
After their run-spree of the previous week, Warrington were tumbled out for a meagre 90 when they took on Mobberley at Walton Lea. Ashley Scholes was top scorer with 26.
The village side coasted to victory on 92-4 in just 13 overs.
Warrington 2nd suffered a mauling at Stockport Georgians, being beaten by 10 wickets.
In the Cheshire League, Lymm Oughtrington Park went down by six wickets against Congleton.
Lymm posted a below-par 153, with Wasim Khan hitting 49 and Travis Scholes 55.
Syed Khan took 2-31 when Congleton comfortably reached victory on 159-4.
Lyhmm 2nd got the b etter of Weaverham, hitting 204-3 in reply to the home side’s 201-8.
Skipper Dave Evans, 71 not out, Jake Hughes, 68 not out and Steve Knowles, 34 were the key batsmen.
Tony Spaven, 5-78 and Shovan Chattergee, 3-57, shone with the ball.
Stretton who are struggling in the relegation zone in division two, wen t down heavily at home to Winnington Park.
The visitors racked up 258-9 and then had Stretton back in the pavilion for 124. Mohammed Yousuf, 32 and Hasson Saleem, 31 not out were the only two batsmen to offer much resistance.
Stretton 2nd hit 207-9 at Cholmondeley but the home side earned a draw with 197-7.
A below strength Glazebury were dismissed for 90 – Jordan Carroll 34 – after visitors Bowdon Vale had hammered a demoralising 293-4.
Appleton made further strides towards promotion, stretching their unbeaten run to eight games with victory over Old Parkonians at Lyons Lane.
Amir Aslam took four wickets and Martin Cooper three as the visitors were bowled out for 189. A well-paced 94 from 87 balls from Ali Shariff and an unbeaten 63 from Martin Cooper saw the home side reach the target with six overs to spare.
Appleton 2nd also picked up a win away at Christleton by five wickets.
Three wickets apiece for Chris Tomlinson and Mike Cumberland saw Christleton bowled out for 168. Liam Mannion hit 41 as the visitors reached their target in the 45th over.
Appleton’s 3rds recorded back-to-back victories for the first time this season with a resounding eight wicket win over Styal at the Grange.
Stand-in skipper Steven Vose hit a gutsy 56 as the visitors posted 138. After being reduced to 29-2 in response, John Porter hit a brutal 82 not out from 61 balls in an unbroken third wicket partnership of 113 with Jonathan Owen, 41 not out, to see the home side cruise to victory in just 20 overs.
Appleton 4th were beaten away at Knutsford 2nds. After declaring on 193-7, the home side bowled Appleton out for 160. Paul Dempster top scored with 28.